Glinda Arduenna Upland
Glinda Upland is the name of the woman who becames Glinda The Good Witch of the North in Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire, as well as in the Brodway adaptation. She was Elphaba's best friend and roomate at Shiz. She is characterized by her popularity and ambition and for being a very bubbly girl. She becames Glinda The Good, because of not joining Elphaba and never telling she was a good woman. Life In the Novel In Gregory Maguire's 1995 revisionist novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, she is initially called "Galinda", and (through her mother) is descended from the noble clan of the Arduennas of the Upland. Her character is seen extensively in the first half of the novel, but disappears for most of the second half, compared to her musical countpart. Though originally snobbish and superficial, she is also intelligent enough to be accepted to Shiz University's Crage Hall, where she is forced to share a room with Elphaba. After a long period of mutual loathing, the two girls later become close friends. Galinda drops the first 'a' in her name in the middle of the story, in tribute to Doctor Dillamond, a martyred Goat who teaches at Shiz (Dillamond made the habitual mistake of calling her "Glinda" instead of "Galinda" while they shared a carriage, before her arrival to the University). The Goat's death also prompts Glinda to re-evaluate her life, and she dedicates herself to studying sorcery, at which she proves to be quite skilled. It is stated that she marries Sir Chuffrey in the second half of the novel and they have no children. As in the original Oz books, she is revered as a powerful sorceress, but she claims that her talents are nowhere near as great as the public believes. Maguire follows the 1939 movie in having Glinda ultimately become the Witch of the North, not the South. Glinda also appears in Son of a Witch, Maguire's sequel to Wicked, now widowed from Sir Chuffrey. In the Musical In the novel's Broadway musical adaptation Wicked, Glinda (originally played by Kristin Chenoweth) is one of the two female leads as the musical focuses on her friendship with Elphaba (the young woman who becomes the infamous Wicked Witch of the West, originally played by Idina Menzel). In the novel, her role was minor, but in the musical her role was expanded. As in the novel, Glinda is characterized by her popularity and ambition and goes by the name of Galinda Upland (who hails from the Upper Uplands). Glinda is a very bubbly and popular girl. Unlike in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz she has blonde hair instead of red hair. She and Elphaba cross paths while attending Shiz University, and while the two girls dislike each other at first, they eventually become best friends. Galinda enrolls in Madame Morrible's sorcery tutorial, but is precluded from entering when Morrible decides to tutor Elphaba privately. Later, however, Elphaba convinces Madame Morrible to admit Galinda to the sessions. Glinda is rather irritated by Doctor Dillamond's constant mispronunciation of her name (he has difficulty pronouncing the first 'a', and so calls her "Glinda", to which she often responds "It's Galinda. With a 'Ga'"). It is therefore somewhat ironic that she, herself, constantly makes the mistake of addressing Boq, a Munchkin boy who is infatuated with her, as "Bick". As in the novel, Galinda later shortens her name to Glinda (telling the Wizard of Oz that "the 'Ga' is silent" when she introduces herself to him). She does this to mark the firing of Dr. Dillamond, but also in an attempt to impress Fiyero, her love interest. When Elphaba decides to rebel against the Wizard, she offers Glinda the chance to go with her, but Glinda decides to stay behind and realize her opportunities with the Wizard, ultimately sealing her destiny to become "Glinda the Good." )]] She shares a relationship with Fiyero, but is oblivious to his increasingly strong romantic feelings toward the now vilified Elphaba. When the two eventually run off together, Glinda is left heartbroken and enraged, but later realizes that Fiyero really does love Elphaba. She is present when the Wizard sends witch-hunters to kill Elphaba, and, unable to stand by while her friend is killed, she goes to Kiamo Ko to warn her of the impending danger. Before being supposedly melted by Dorothy, Elphaba makes Glinda promise not to clear her name, and gives her the Grimmerie, a legendary spell book. Glinda tells her that of all the friends she has had, Elphaba is the only one who really mattered, and the two Witches acknowledge that each has been changed by their friendship. Glinda then confronts the Wizard with the revelation that Elphaba was in fact his own daughter, and forces him to leave Oz, before having Madame Morrible arrested, thus exacting long-overdue justice for Elphaba. She announces to the citizens of Oz that she will try to help them recover in the aftermath of the past few years, and that she wishes to truly earn the title of 'Glinda the Good'. Portrayers Broadway Production * Kristin Chenoweth (2003-2004) * Jennifer Laura Thompson (2004-2005) * Megan Hilty (2005-2006) * Kate Reinders (2006-2007) * Kendra Kassebaum (2007, 2008) * Annaleigh Ashford (2007-2008) * Alli Mauzey (2008-2009) * Erin Mackey (2009 - Present) Broadway Standbys * Laura Bell Bundy (2003-2004) * Megan Hilty (2004-2005) * Stacie Morgain Lewis (2005) * Katie Adams (2005-2007, 2007-2009) * Alli Mauzey (2007) * Laura Woyasz (2009 - Present) 1st National Tour Production * Kendra Kassebaum (2005-2006) * Megan Hilty (2006) * Christina DeCicco (2007) * Katie Rose Clarke (2007-2009) * Chandra-Lee Schwartz (2009 - Present) Chicago Production * Kate Reinders (2005-2006) * Stacie Morgain Lewis (2006) * Erin Mackey (2006-2008) * Kate Fahrner (2008) * Annaleigh Ashford (2008-2009) London Production * Helen Dallimore (2006-2007) * Dianne Pilkington (2007 - Present) London Standbys * Annalene Beechey (2006-2007) * Dianne Pilkington (2007) * Sarah Earnshaw (2007 - Present) Los Angeles Production * Megan Hilty (2007-2008, 2008-2009) * Erin Mackey (2008) * Emily Rozek (2008) Los Angeles Stanbys * Emily Rozek (2007-2008) * Laura Woyasz (2008) * Natalie Daradich (2008-2009) Tokyo Production * Numao Miyuki (2007-2009) * Tomada Asako (2009) Stuttgart Production * Lucy Scherer (2007-2010) Stuttgart Alternates * Jana Stelley (2007-2009) * Valerie Link (2009-2010) Melbourne Production * Lucy Durack (2008-2009) Melbourne Standbys * Erin Hasan (2008-2009) San Francisco Production * Kendra Kassebaum (2009 - Present) San Francisco Standbys * Natalie Daradich (2009 - Present) 2nd National Tour * Helene Yorke (2009 - Present) Trzin Production * Natja Levec (2009-2011) * Maja Ravnikar (2011) Sydney Production * Lucy Durack (2009-) Sydney Standbys * Erin Hasan (2009-) External Links * [http://oz.wikia.com/wiki/Glinda Glinda-'Oz Wiki'] * [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glinda Glinda-'Wikipedia'] Category:Characters of Wicked Category:Witches